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While recent winter snowstorms have brought some welcome moisture to Northern Colorado, they also may have left some local nonprofits high and dry.

At a time when many residents usually participate in fundraisers or donate to their favorite charities, some nonprofits are not getting the assistance they need because of the recent bad weather. Worse, many organizations are faced with a sudden increase in the need for services while their end-of-year budgets are tapped out."

MercuryNews.com | 12/29/2006 | `NOT JUST CHECK-WRITERS': "From the corner of the conference table, it seems as if Rita Holiday is leading a run-of-the-mill Silicon Valley meeting: Seven staffers sit in identical chairs, two more listen in from the speakerphone, five laptops lie open wide, and a projector casts a chart full of tasks, resources and expected outcomes onto a screen.

But Holiday and the group -- all full-time Intel employees -- aren't designing the next microprocessor or quarreling over strategy against archrival AMD. They're planning a spring food drive."

In my late 20s, I found myself thousands of dollars in debt; first unemployed, and then underemployed as a laborer. It was good and honest work, but stretched both my wallet and my core beliefs.

I needed to answer a key question: ``With so little for myself, do I still carve out some small amount to help others?''

Each week, balancing a stack of bills and past-due notices against my small paycheck, I made the decision to carve out the first dime of every dollar for charity. As weeks slipped into months, and I slowly chipped through a mountain of debt, I was amazed at how far 90 percent of my income could stretch when I helped others with the first 10 percent.

This past week, the NewTithing Group released a study of six California regions, including Silicon Valley. Rather than measure the giving habits of the poor, as I was in my late 20s, they instead looked at those with wealth -- earning individual or household incomes exceeding $200,000."

$11 million in funds for renovation, but the county won't be looking to taxpayers to foot the biggest part of the bill.

As the budget for the Department of Parks continues to wane (it's about $7.5 million this fiscal year), and voters nixed a 1/8-cent sales tax increase for supplemental funding at the polls in November, private, nonprofit entities are becoming an increasingly desirable and necessary source of dollars."

A NEW generation of philanthropists has stepped forward, mostly young billionaires who have reaped the benefits of capitalism and believe it can be applied in the service of charity. They are 'philanthropreneurs', driven to do good and have their profit too."

Baby boomers say they plan to give 25 percent more to charity by the end of 2006 than they donated in 2005, with an average donation of $6,000 — higher than that of any other generation, according to a new survey by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund."

Remember investment clubs? During the 1990’s people across the country began forming groups where the members would pool their resources and invest in the stock market. The investment clubs were a way for people to learn more about investing in a fun and social way. They became hugely popular and today you can buy books like Investment Clubs for Dummies, Starting and Running a Profitable Investment Club, and Investment Club Operations Handbook."

For many people, charitable giving is just a part of their life, especially if they've grown up seeing others in their family being generous donors. However, when you have to make an effort to pay your bills every month and face the challenges of dealing with your own personal financial plan, giving away some of your meager resources may be the furthest thing from your mind. And even those who are wealthy enough that they don't have to worry about their immediate financial needs sometimes choose not to make gifts to charity. Yet by focusing solely on the monetary aspects of donating to charity, one can easily miss the entire point of making gifts."

How Rich Are You? :: PNNOnline ::: "How does your income compare with others around the planet? Individuals living in Britain, the United States, Canada, Japan and other European nations can enter their annual income on the Global Rich List website to see how they compare to others around the world.

The Global Rich List was created by Polk, a London-based company, who state on their web site that their “aim is to inspire people through interactive media.”"

For the third year in a row, the majority of participants in GuideStar's nonprofit economic survey reported that contributions to their organizations had either increased or stayed about the same as contributions during the previous year. For the fourth consecutive year, a substantial majority also said that demand for their organizations' services had grown.Contribution Levels

Asked, 'Did total contributions to your organization increase, decrease, or stay about the same during the first nine months of this year compared to the first nine months of 2005?' half of more than 3,700 respondents stated that contributions had increased. Another 27 percent said that contributions had stayed the same. Only 19 percent reported that contributions had decreased."

Be it generous hearts or the desire to avoid taxes, Californians traditionally increase their giving to charities and non-profit organizations in December, tossing spare change into a kettle or writing checks to favorite causes.

But with the holiday-season altruism comes cautionary advice from those who monitor charity: Give, they say, but give wisely. Impulse donating is a lot like impulse buying -- one can awake the morning after with remorse over a hasty decision."

The 2007 Social Capitalist Awards: "The amazing organizations that received the Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards have found a better way to do good: They're using the disciplines of the corporate world to tackle daunting social problems. In our fourth exclusive ranking, we used a similarly hard-nosed approach to find the 43 best social entrepreneurs.

This special section builds on the article in the December/January 2006 issue and includes details about our methodology, profiles of our various advisers, position statements contributed by the winning organizations, an interactive slideshow focusing on business lessons, audio interviews with winning leaders -- and ways to donate to the organizations involved."

MADISON, Wis. -- People trying to best the end of the year for tax purposes were among the many racing to local charity donation sites on Wednesday.

Staff at various donation sites said the cars have been lining up to drop off items, and said the sooner people show up the better.

At Goodwill Industries of South Central Wisconsin's most popular site off Verona Road, the cars were lined up a dozen deep. There they can drive into a garage, drop off their donations, and collect a receipt all in a matter of minutes.

Donors were loaded down with all kinds of stuff Wednesday, ready to give for all kinds of reasons.

'I'm actually trying to unload some toys to make room for new stash,' said one area mother."

The Post and Courier, Charleston SC | Charleston.net | Stories: "The league began fueling international groups after Shirley McGreal, the group's chairwoman, founded the league in Thailand in 1973. The organization opened its base on the edge of Summerville in 1977. The league keeps only enough funds to operate the gibbon sanctuary, where the gibbons live in wired enclosures with runs and 30-foot towers fashioned from corn cribs. While the sanctuary lacks natural habitat, the charity has the ability to capture donations that international organizations in remote places can't access.

A tradition of philanthropy exists in the United States that foreign programs, such as Nigerian rescues, don't find at home, McGreal said.

The organization sends funds to international charities to stop the illegal trade and hunting where it happens, Strong said. The international groups educate people about primate and habitat conservation in their homelands and are better able to reintroduce species or at least keep them in natural environments."

Nonprofit managers who develop social purpose ventures to generate revenues to support a social mission have limited opportunities to share their experiences with others in the field or to learn from the experiences of others. Many nonprofit managers also have modest business backgrounds. Yet, despite these challenges, the movement toward income generation by nonprofits continues to grow. Some of these ventures succeed, yet many more fail to meet either their social or financial goals. Clearly, the field lacks well-defined criteria, standards, and strategies for achieving success in this area. The potential payoff from the diffusion of learning appears to be substantial. This paper offers a first step in the process."

The Asian Tsunami disaster in December 2004 saw an overwhelming reaction from the British public – in the month that followed cardholders donated over £100 million on debit and credit cards. The Pakistan earthquake saw a similar spike in October 2005 as donations hit £45 million.

Since then the trend has continued with charitable donations continuing to be made at higher levels than ever on debit and credit cards. Figures released today (27 December 2006) by APACS, the UK payments association, see giving by plastic stronger than ever. Both the Tsunami and the earthquake in Pakistan saw an expected spike in giving – but outside of these busy periods average giving has been consistently up on 2004 levels as the nation factors charitable giving into their monthly expenditure."

The fast-approaching end of 2006 presents many opportunities for last-minute charitable gifts to agencies, churches and other tax-deductible causes of a donor's choosing.

Many organizations in Northeast Mississippi will close books at the end of business Friday, so only three business days remain for many charitable causes to receive funds, stocks, and/or other properties counting toward deductibility on 2006 tax forms."

Washington ranks first in the country in the percentage of its workforce employed by charities and other nonprofit organizations. A new report by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies shows that the District is mirroring a nationwide trend of employment in the nonprofit sector growing faster than the overall job market.

'The trend is the product of changing demographics that is fueling labor growth in service related jobs,' said Lester M. Salamon, co-author of the report.'"

Donating to charity at Christmastime is a tradition for countless Americans.

Some rush to beat the deadline for tax deductions. Some don't think of making contributions until seasonal reminders arrive in the mail. Others simply feel more charitable during the holidays or have waited to see how much they can afford to give."

SOME HAVE CHARGED New Englanders with giving less to charity than people in other regions. Others say secular donors give less than the faithful. Yet such assertions are less informative than this statistic: Two-thirds of all philanthropic gifts made by U S households come from the wealthiest 3 percent of Americans. Their giving patterns deserve more attention if charities are to improve their effectiveness and fund-raising appeals."

The next time you chuck a few coins in a collecting tin shaken under your nose, consider whether the money really is going to the poor.

Charity is thought of as giving to the needy and those in distress. But many charities benefit the rich more than the poor and only a small amount of charitable giving is redistributive, says a paper published this year by the Centre for Civil Society at the London School of Economics."

'Giving closely follows the economy, and indicators including the stock market should bode well for those groups that plan their big donation pushes at this time of year,' said Giving Institute Chair, George C. Ruotolo Jr., CFRE.

While there have been no empirical studies showing that donations are highest in the fourth quarter, the Institute, parent organization of Giving USA Foundation™, notes that many charities use the holidays - and their associated feelings of good cheer - to reach out to potential donors."

Thanks to Chicago-area small businesses, many children in need will be getting gifts for Christmas--and all year long.

As a national sponsor of the Toys for Tots program, Vernon Hills-based toymaker Learning Resources donated more than $120,000 in toys to the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve program for underprivileged children this month.

The company promoted a 'buy once, give twice' offer on its Web site, pledging to donate a second toy to Toys for Tots for every one purchased online by a customer for the charity. It also matched employees' donations."

Questions for Peter Singer - New York Times: "Peter Singer is the Ira W. DeCamp professor of bioethics at the Center for Human Values at Princeton University. He is the author of many books, including most recently “The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter.” Mr. Singer recently answered readers' questions about the ethics of billionaire spending and philanthropy."

Ringing in the nude charity calendars - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com: "The Humane Society in the city of Jefferson, about 50 miles west of Milwaukee, is one of many nonprofit organizations from Australia to Wisconsin selling tastefully nude 2007 calendars, although one philanthropy expert says the practice is, er, overexposed.

A group of women ranging in age from mid 50s to early 70s in Yorkshire, England, pioneered the idea in 2000 when they sold a calendar of discreet nude photographs of themselves to raise money for cancer research. The women, whose story inspired the 2003 movie “Calendar Girls,” raised $2.55 million through sales of 800,000 calendars as well as book and film royalties."